darkSpyro

I tried to get excited about Trap Team but all I could focus on is the insane amount of money this one game will cost.

If you want to get everything you'll need (estimate costs?):

New starter pack with new portal ($70)

60 Skylanders (@ $10 each = $600)

40 Traps (@5 each = $200)

For a total of $870

This does not include any of the extra level or weapon packs that are sure to be available.


Now, I realize I don't know how much the traps will cost, that's just a guess, but I can almost guarantee that you will NOT be able to trap more than one enemy per trap. Since you can flip back and forth between Skylander and trapped enemy there doesn't seem to be a way to switch between multiple trapped enemies so...you'll need a different trap for each one.

Another thing bothering me is that these new Trap Skylanders are supposed to be more powerful. Instead of hearing that they are more powerful, I hear that as "your other Skylanders are weaker". You can still play with the other ones but you'll be at a disadvantage.

Speaking as someone who owns 175 Skylanders and loves to collect toys, this is dangerously close to bringing my Skylanders days to an end. I would love to get some value from my current investment but it looks like Activision is going to continue it's yearly reach deeper and deeper into my wallet.

I think each Skylander might have a trap included with it. I think the Skylanders figures will then cost about 12-14$.

Maybe traps are gonna be with the 60 new characters that correspond to the element?

I feel the same way. I completed SSA and Giants (Getting all of the different figures, both old and new). With Swap Force, I only went after the Swaps, new corelanders, and the reposes I liked (which still ended up being a ton of figures). I think trap masters and new cores are going to be the only option for me on this one. I can't afford to do this for a fourth game!

It will be insanely expensive (UK total will rise to the equivalent of $1400 I'd guess), that I have no doubt about. I'll probably do what I've been doing with Swap Force - Instead of rushing out to get them all on their release date, give it a few months and they'll be on special offer. I'll only buy the ones that really appeal to me straight away.

Normally, when a new game comes out the older Skylanders are weaker in comparison. It's a cheap tactic IMHO, but I doubt they'll ever change that.

From the official site FAQs:


50+ "new characters" includes reposes and whatever new Lightcore gimmick they're planning on.

Has it been mentioned that it will be 40 traps for sure? I know it mentioned 40 or so playable villains, but I think it would be a bad idea to have one trap crystal specifically for one villain... with the exception of maybe Kaos.

I'm gonna assume that the Trap Masters (guessing 16 in total, 2 for each element like Swap Force) will each come with one unique Trap Crystal to them (one of the Traps is a big hammer so I'm assuming that's Wallop's) putting them at the $15 dollar price point. Giants were 15, Swappers were 15, Trappers will be 15 too.

It'll be,that's for sure. But I'll do the same as I did before, and allow myself some spoilers to choose only what I truly want - specially because in Giants I was able to make the game tons cheaper by buying loose figures instead of the Starter Pack, but now there's no other choice since the portals and the traps are probably a must. Will try to avoid some of the juicier spoilery enemies, but still not get a ton of traps only to find out I dislike the gameplay of several enemies.

I will likely have a HUGE over haul in who is get for this game. I'm already deciding who I should get and skip. WildFire and Wollop look cool, but I might have to skip them. I'll definitely get Chopper, the DragonFly, Funny Bone and possibly S4 Gill Grunt.

Still, doing the math we can pretty much be sure the trappers will be $15 apiece. Counting the fact you get one included, that means 15x$15 which comes to $225. The core landers would be $160 + another $20 for the odd two, unless they turn out to be lightcore only which I could see them doing.

Still not *as* bad, but that's a lot of green. The problem with not grabbing them new is, of course, getting them when they're gone, as anyone that's been wanting lightcores is probably familiar with how expensive Pop Fizz's is...

I wonder how GameMaster78's going to handle 3 of every version, character and keys this time around.

I would have to guess that the Trappers will have a key with them. That'd justify the higher price point of them. (With Giants being bigger/part LC, and Swappers swapping)

Quote: Diggeh

I wonder how GameMaster78's going to handle 3 of every version, character and keys this time around.

He's gonna buy a warehouse full of Skylanders.

Just to be clear
the keys can hold 4 enemies each so only 10 are needed technically :/

Quote: spyroflame0487

I would have to guess that the Trappers will have a key with them. That'd justify the higher price point of them. (With Giants being bigger/part LC, and Swappers swapping)

In one of the FGTV vids, they said that keys will be sold individually.

I'm glad that I'm very picky with the Skylanders I buy. I'm no collector, but even with the ones I have already it would mess with my sanity if I totaled how much I've spent on this game.

I'm worried that the crystals will be overly expensive, because I'll be sure to collect all of those. Overall, I do believe I'll spend around $200-$300 on this game. Ugh.

There will probably only be 8-10 traps, one for each element.

I agree Trappers should include a key. You have to hold yourself back on buying all but select "core" skylanders or it will cost a fortune. Also helps if you wait for Black Friday 50% off deals, which my kids are not going to go for with a birthday on October 4th.

Quote: willster8

There will probably only be 8-10 traps, one for each element.

I think we know that there's at least 15 already, from the trailer.

why 18 core characters? it would be better if it was 16, two per element.
i guess it could be that 2 will be lightcore.

This is the thread I came back for. My family and I have been quietly playing Giants and Swap Force, feeling less compelled to chat about the game until now.

With this new iteration of Skylanders it looks like it's going to be, not only a huge financial outlay for new stuffs, but also a great new headache for storage (as if things weren't bad enough in that respect).

Don't get me wrong, I'll still be right there, buying all the goodies to play with my kids, but I wanted to see if anyone else felt a bit pinched by this particular incarnation of the game coming up.

If no one is saying no then they are in denial or they aren't paying for it.

This certainly appears to be a money grab. I will just have to institute similar buying rules as earlier games. No lightcores or reposes and variants have to be different in game too.

Quote: GamerDrone

This certainly appears to be a money grab.

Welcome to business.

It does sound crazy expensive, but I generally get about 11 characters per game, and I hope to find a compromise between characters and traps that works for me and comes out to about the same amount, I will try to get fewer traps because those aren't guaranteed to work in the next skylanders game

This entire thread is hilarious. After 3 years of the franchise, the OP finally woke up and realized this game costs money!

Quote: Secretsof2113

I feel the same way. I completed SSA and Giants (Getting all of the different figures, both old and new). With Swap Force, I only went after the Swaps, new corelanders, and the reposes I liked (which still ended up being a ton of figures). I think trap masters and new cores are going to be the only option for me on this one. I can't afford to do this for a fourth game!

I am with you here because I like the variants but I had to cut down during swap force. There is no way I can have an original and a repose during this game. One copy of each of the new characters and that is it.

in the reveal trailer (with the kids in the attic) didnt it mention that the traps come with the skylanders?

so that's the new gimmick after watching the video and i have to say as fun as it looks i really feel like passing on it aside from a handful of characters. making this yearly is too draining on the wallet and the video shows over ten traps in that box. I'd think there's a restriction to how many and whom you can catch and most likely you can't catch Kaos without his specific trap. I think this might be the last game. I know I said it last time, but this is really scraping the bottom of the barrel by acti for a gimmick. Most would argue just to make figures of the villians too and forget about the traps.

I'd rather have seen a game without a gimmick like SA but I think it's about time more people stop buying so many of them. This might finally do it

Quote: GhostRoaster

This entire thread is hilarious. After 3 years of the franchise, the OP finally woke up and realized this game costs money!

I avoided getting into this series from the start because I understood my own addictions (I am a completionist) but eventually caved about 3 months after the first game was released because I knew this was a game I could play with my daughter. I was correct about my own buying habits and now have purchased every figure I could buy at retail (no eBay rares for me) and really enjoy the hunt for new figures as they are released.

Also, I know the publisher and developer are in this to make money and this is a business. As a matter of fact, I make games for a living myself and have no problem cashing my paycheck each week.

All that being said, I would love to get more value for the toys I already have.

This is the character release model I would fully support:
8 new Trap characters
8 new Core characters
8 Traps (holding 5 enemies each)

In the game I would like to see:
Swap Zones still in effect
Areas for Giants only
Areas for Lightcores only

After 3 full games and well over 150 characters available that should be plenty of new content and would still make Activision around 300 of my dollars.

They said it will have 16 Trap Masters and that's without including any Special ones. Not sure why people keep referencing back to 8 when it says everywhere that it's 16.

The idea seems fresh and nice in comparison to the Swap Force. But we get only 32 new characters in total and still... On the trailer there seems to be an undead version of Hot Dog. We already saw a dolphin with a shield and sword (water chop chop) and another undead girl like Hex or Roller Brawl. There is also life element dragonfly, which resembles Drobot and a life element bazooka shooter... like we didn't get Zook and Bumbleblast already. Oh, right, there is still about 30 reposes. Another Gill Grunt and Eruptor? Really. There is already like 5 figures of each there. I won't spend a broken penny on another batch of useless characters, even if it means that I would have to struggle with oldies which would be weaker and less efficient.


No offence, but even tough the idea of trap team seems nice, a fact that they're just recycling old ideas in new boxes seems a little disappointing. If they want to drain as much money as possible, they could put bit more effort and more importantly, not rush with the releases each year.

Quote: WickedRogue

They said it will have 16 Trap Masters and that's without including any Special ones. Not sure why people keep referencing back to 8 when it says everywhere that it's 16.

If that was directed at my previous post, I was mentioning that I only wanted 8 Trap Masters. I know there are 16 which seems like overkill to me. I would have also been fine with 8 Swappers as well.

You and me both. Back when there were just 8 giants, it felt good enough. Any more feels like overkill and you end up with massive overlap in abilities.

If it helps, when the game comes out I'll try and dig for any information on alter-egos we can expect, though apparently Toys for Bob were not pleased that I posted said info and asked the last thread be nuked.

You don't have to buy everything....

IMO, after Spyro's Adventure, each game should have:

• 8 gimmick characters
  
• 8 core characters
  
• Every character from previous games released in a Legacy range, rather than reposes - the same figure, just for those who didn't buy it when it was originally being sold.
  

I agree limiting the amount of characters. 8 gimmick characters is plenty. 16 swappable characters was entirely too many. Adding variants also increased the quantity of characters. I feel that the only people buying everything are collectors and there aren't enough of them to sustain the game. Better to have a core group that sell well. Of course, people are placing their own limitations on purchases. I know I do.

Completionist/O.C.D. issues aside, I don't get the constant price gripes about this franchise's cost. They are still fully supporting ALL Skylanders you've purchased from previous sets. If it's too much for you at the beginning wait for sales. Trade in old games at places like Gamestop and Best Buy for credit towards new Skylanders. TRU has crappy normal prices but their sales are pretty killer. Plus for every Skylanders game so far they have had the best launch deals. I do sympathize with the price though. I lost about 20% of my income about 2 years ago and have had to pace myself. That said I still have every Skylander released. I just had to spread it out. I ate out less asking myself "Do I really want that $6-$7 extra value meal or just wait, eat at home and get a Skylander". Just stupid stuff like that. This franchise is just like any other collectible franchise. Bottom line is that they all cost $$$. This game has a pretty solid "Salad Bar Principal", take what you want and leave the rest.

I have (at least) one of every Skylander introduced before swap force. I have about 10 swappers, and a few new S:SF cores, although most of them are going to be sold. I'm definetly not buying all the Skylanders this time around.

as a collector i like them putting out 32 more new characters.
you dont have to buy them all to have a good time playing the game.
in the first three games i was able to beat them using only one character each. (sonic boom for the first two and grim creeper for the third)
i have 170/174 plus the sidekicks and ten or so chase variants.

16 swappers was fine, the point of swap force was to swap so i get the point of adding another set of 8.

^but 8 swappers would still mean 64 combinations.

Nothing wrong with having lots of new figures. As long as the REQUIRED number for completeness stays at 8.

16 swappers just gives more choice so you can avoid ones you don't like. Nobody forces you to buy them all. I don't care how many they make as long as the requirement for them stays at 8 elements.

TBH, I think the required to get 100% should be the starter pack, with extra characters making it easier. I understand that if you don't like a character, there are alternatives, but if it was only the starter pack that was required for 100% completion, you wouldn't have to buy extra characters of a certain element - they would just help you.

Well, Here is the hard part. There is "completing the game" which the starter pack does fine.

Then there is "100% complete" with varying levels of obsession.

I don't consider the Elemental Gates, Giant Areas or Swap Zones to be "part of the main game" at all so you can complete the game with supplied figures easily.

I think needing 8 elements to 100% get through all the areas in a game is fine. We all have 8 elements already. Even the dual element gates are easily subverted with 2 player mode.

1 per element is reasonable, but Swap Force required you to buy 8 completely new characters to get 100% on your own (you could use a second remote, but what about the people who don't own a second remote?) , and Trap Team may go the same way. "You need a Tech Trap Master to open this gate"

Keeping it honest.

They didn't need 16 swappers. Why? Because half of them frankly 'suck' or feel like a 'rehash' of another character. There was little uniqueness amongst 16 characters. This is magnified obviously because of the COST of these figures, so a completion-ist such as myself is now sitting back and having HARD thoughts about putting any more money into the franchise. They got m money up front, but bleed me dry.

So, when I hear 60+ characters I instantly call BS (1) because of reposes and (2) because it's overkill. The game will not be long enough to 'level up' tons of character to 20, as it stands I only have one or two level 20 characters for Swap Force, I'm not going to grind the same content with little reward than 'additional health'

The series needs to stick to
8 gimmicks
8-16 core
8 reposes

And call it a day.
- Unreall

I'll do what I did with both Spyro's Adventure and Giants: Wait a couple of years till their cheap and look for cheap used figures at the pawn store. I managed to get a lot of figures, even Boomer, for five bucks each.

I am sincerely hoping that there are no magic items this time around. That would just add another $60 to the already steep $600 price tag, if they are doing this the same as Swap Force. This is going to be rough for the 'only newbies' category as well.

Quote: GoHeels999

I agree Trappers should include a key. You have to hold yourself back on buying all but select "core" skylanders or it will cost a fortune. Also helps if you wait for Black Friday 50% off deals, which my kids are not going to go for with a birthday on October 4th.

I am in the same boat...
My son's is on the 8th. I wonder what he will get for his Birthday?